So you’re Andy Roddick, you’re supposedly America’s one true hope for a dominant tennis player, the next great one in the mold of Pete Sampras and you’ve been a total disappointment. What do you do when you continue to lose inexplicably to inferior competition? You make ridiculous excuses.

Roddick, who is currently No. 5 in the ATP rankings, was in to the semifinals at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on Saturday, and was expected to cruise to a victory and likely the title. Instead he dropped his semifinal match to the unseeded Frank Dancevic 6-4, 7-6 (7-1). He then proceeded to blame the loss on a bad fast food meal he ate the night before. Andy, really? That’s the best you could come up with? At the very least tell us you were up all night banging three models from Sweden. Hell, tell us you were praying for gays to disappear with Tony Dungy, something, anything, just don’t blame bad McNuggets.

Since Roddick’s scintillating run through and subsequent title at the 2003 U.S. Open, he’s gone 0-for-15 in major tournaments, reaching only three finals and two semifinals. That’s not good for the guy anointed to be the next golden boy, especially since James Blake’s all-court game is far more crowd pleasing than Roddick’s power service style. Blake has arguably surpassed Roddick as the poster boy for American tennis.

Making excuses like “bad fast food” leads to far more questions than answers. Like: Why were you eating fast food the night before a big match? Are you really that committed to your fitness and your sport? The bottom line is that even with a “stomach bug or something” Roddick has enough talent to overcome the likes of Frank Dancevic every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Hell, Pete Sampras (Roddick’s idol) was puking on the court in a 1996 U.S. Open quarterfinals match against Alex Corretja, and he still won. Real champions play through pain and win, guys who are “one slam wonders” are taken out by Ronald McDonald. Time for Andy to decided which one he is.

there possibly aren’t too many options available for dinner very late at night and maybe he just didn’t feel like cooking!as for his game.. i wouldn’t say it was sick, he’s just come up against some players who are either the best there has been ( Roger ) or wanted it more ( wimbledon ’07). i believe it’s his belief in himself that is currently a bit “sick”.

Shallow analysis. If you watched the match, it’s clear he was ill, and he lost that particular match because he was ill. And that’s something that just happens (as it did to Sampras when he lost to Edberg at the US Open because of food poisoning or a stomach bug). So the fast food isn’t an excuse, it’s his attempt to draw a causal connection to the phenomena (his illness) which was apparent to everyone. If the larger point is that his game is ‘sick,’ then spend your time making the larger point, and do so with more than insinuation. Bring more than insinuation to your case that Blake is ‘arguably’ the poster boy for American tennis, too (he’s never even been in the semis of a slam). None of this is a defense of Roddick. It’s to say that your analysis is sick.

Blake has surpassed Andy? Are you out of your mind? I mean sure Andy Roddick hasn’t lived up to expectations. After winning the 2003 US Open so many people thought of him as the next Samprass or Agassi, and he has yet to actually come close to that level since 2003. Yes he is overrated and he is a bit of a one trick pony who plays so far behind the base line that he is practically in the stands. But you’re actually backing Blake? Outside of getting his butt severely kicked by Federer in a Masters Cup semifinal in Shanghai, the man has been a complete non-entity. He has reached the quarterfinals of a major exactly one time. Which means he hasn’t even reached the level of Tim Henman. I mean come on, give Andy some credit, he has been ranked no. 1, and finished a year with that top ranking. He is an amazing server at least, while Blake is just an all around mediocre player who manages to cling on to the upper levels of mediocrity. Blake is forgetable, not that interesting to watch, and people only know his name becuase there aren’t any other male tennis players doing that well right now. I mean Roddick has actually won a set off of Federer, Blake embarasses himself whenever he plays Federer. Roddick will probably always be one of those who never quite lives up to his potential, while Blake has no potential to live up to.